An introductory guide to the music of Outkast

When asked to describe hip-hop duo Outkast, Regina Bradley simply said "iconic." Bradley is a professor at Armstrong State University in Savannah, Ga., who made news earlier this year for her new course entirely dedicated to the music and influence of Outkast. 

"They are arguably the world's introduction to what could be considered Southern hip-hop," she explains. Her class not only dives into the group's two decades-long career but also uses it in relation to English, literature and, as she says, "how we understand southern black folks in the American South after the civil rights movement." 

Naturally, we thought Bradley would be an ideal candidate to give us a gateway playlist to Outkast and below are her picks for anyone hoping to get into their music but perhaps only knows "Hey Ya." 

'Git Up, Git Out'

"This really speaks to what they were trying to do in terms of recognizing that there was such a thing as a hip-hop south."

'Elevators (Me & You)'

"Nobody wanted them so they went to outer space and made their own kind of world building, and how did they do that? Bring in synthesizers and other spaceship, out-of-the-world sounds and you make this amazing track." 

'Bombs Over Baghdad (B.O.B.)'

"Normally, when you think of Outkast, you think of a folk, gospel blues sound associated with them. For this one, I would say it's explosive because it's so fast but it's also one of those types of songs that you really just get into the groove and you can really hear that EDM influence."

— Produced by Ty Callender